


Serendipitous

by Vita_S_West



Category: Inspector Morse & Related Fandoms, Lewis (TV)
Genre: Coats, Hathaway's Coat, Holidays, M/M, Ugly Holiday Sweaters, dare i say more, mandatory holiday party, the holidays are coming and so the fic must too, unexpected gifts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-19 13:38:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17002677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vita_S_West/pseuds/Vita_S_West
Summary: It's the annual (mandatory) holiday party at the precinct and James has gotten Robbie Lewis a very sensible gift. At least he thought he did....





	Serendipitous

           James, after one too many drinks at the annual holiday party, made his speedy and entirely necessary escape at 7:55 PM, sharp. He’d planned on staying the extra minutes, until 8:00 PM, but Superintendent Innocent was mercifully distracted by the need to fix the karaoke machine. James thought it was particularly cruel and unusual that there should be a karaoke machine that would need fixing at a party that he had been informed, in no uncertain terms, was mandatory. Should he be so tortured with such a contraption, surely it was divine intervention that it malfunctioned and should left well enough alone. This was not the case, not when Jean Innocent was on the case. In James’s opinion, she was guilty of a great many sins when it was not yet 8 o’clock on a Thursday evening at the “non-denominational holiday party”. The first sin was definitely planning the bloody party.

Coat buttoned up, cigarette, unlit but at the ready, James stowed down the hallway like man escaping a crime scene, or the mandatory holiday cheer. When he heard footsteps behind him, he sped up.

“Er, James--I mean, Sergeant Hathaway,” a voice called.

James stopped. He could recognize _that_ voice anywhere. He turned, eyebrows raised to face Robbie Lewis and his unfamiliar formality.

“Yes, Detective Lewis?” he said, eyebrow raised, cigarette still dangling from his mouth. Perhaps he had had more of the “holiday punch”, that had certainly been spiked by a younger administrator who muttered to herself that “kiddush exists for a reason”. James wasn’t too familiar with the tradition, but didn’t point out that they were a day early for Shabbos. He hadn’t been about to argue with her individual reasoning when she had been so clearly doing a public service.

Lewis stood several feet away, flushing. “Er, can we—I think we should… talk.” It would have an ominous sound if it weren’t stuttered out with such hesitation. Or if Robbie weren’t wearing a dreadful green Christmas jumper patterned with reindeer.

James spread his arms out, a go-ahead gesture.

Lewis turned redder still and said, “Maybe not here.”

Stopping into an empty office, Robbie heaved a very deep sigh. James felt a prickle of anticipation across the back of his neck. He was suddenly very nervous about what was about to happen. Whatever that was.

“What’s going on?” he asked, tensely. He finally yanked the cigarette out of his mouth.

Lewis sighed again and said, “Well, I am—I just wanted to say…” He looked down at his feet and toed the carpet for a moment. “While I am very flattered—er, somewhat flattered, and this is wholly unexpected, I really have to tell you, James... this is quite inappropriate.”

James stared at him, mouth quirked. Slowly, he said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Robbie sputtered, beginning and stopping several times before snapping out, “Really man!” and waving his Christmas present at James.

“It was Secret Santa,” James said, evenly. “How’d you even know I got your name?”

“I asked Gurdip.”

“That rather spoils the fun.”

“Wh—I don’t think it’s funny!”

It was James’s turn to be offended. “Those are perfectly nice woolen socks! You were the one complaining about the holes in your other pair. If you don’t like them return them! That’s what the receipt’s in there for.”

“S-socks? This isn’t socks!”

Confusion spreads to James. “Of course I did! It might be boring, but I figured you’d want something practical.”

“You didn’t get me socks, James,” Robbie said, very quietly. He held the present out, slowly, hesitantly.

A stark feeling of panic began to bloom in James’s gut. He snatched the present. Moving the tissue paper aside, he confirmed what he feared. What he already knew.

“Bollocks.”

He stared at the fluorescent lights above him, flushing redder than Robbie and redder than alcohol could ever make him. He had wrapped all the presents at the same time and put two Christmas bags by the door. How did he manage to grab the wrong one? Why had he chosen to buy five identical Christmas bags for five quid? How in the name of hell could he ever look his boss in the eye knowing that he’d given him a dildo?

“I take it… I take it that _wasn’t_ for me,” Robbie said finally.

“Nope. It was a gag gift for a friend. It was supposed to be…. yeah.”

“Someone special, then. They must be very disappointed to get socks,” he tried to joke.

“This is worse.”

“You want to stop staring at the light? You’ll burn your retinas out.”

“I don’t want eyes anymore,” James said mournfully, though what he meant was “I can’t bear to look at you anymore, so why would I need them?”

There was a bit more silence and then Robbie started to laugh. “Chin up. In ten years or when I’m dead this’ll be funny. You should go call your fellow or your lass and say—”

“Sorry about the socks?”

“If they haven’t already returned them already.”

Finally, James blinks and turns back to look at Robbie as the other man prepares to leave. It takes a moment for his vision to clear, but when it does he can see the immediate difference in his posture. His shoulders have sagged, probably with relief. But also, possibly, disappointment.

“Wait a second!” James called.

Startled, Robbie turned back around. “Yeah?”

“Did you say you were _flattered_?”

“What?”

“Before! Before you said you were flattered but this wouldn’t work. Did you consider whether _we_ would work?”

“I don’t recall saying so,” Robbie said quickly. Too quickly by far. It beat the newly returned blush by several seconds.

James choked out a laugh. “Liar!”

“No! It was just a manner of expression. Because of the awkwardness. About the, you know, the...”

“You can say dildo, Robbie. It won’t turn you into one.”

“Too late,” he muttered, more to himself than to James it seemed. Lips pinched, he walked quickly into the corridor and James, without a moment of doubt, followed him.

“Don’t you have to get your gift to the right person?” Robbie grumbled.

“I rather think it made it to the right person.”

“Oh hush!”

“Wanna come ‘round to mine?”

“Would that be appropriate? Having your boss over?” Robbie said rather pointedly.

“No, but if I have my friend or, I don’t know, possibly date, that would be fine.”

“I told you this wouldn’t work!”

“So you admit it!”

Robbie groaned loudly and then stopped in his tracks. It took James an extra moment and he nearly collided with him. He didn’t back up though. He stood perfectly still, a mere foot away. Robbie’s chest heaved with yet another deep breath.

“Fine,” he began, “when I opened the present I was shocked—deeply, I would say—taken aback and yes, a little flattered. It doesn’t change anything. It’s just what I felt.”

“I think it changes a lot.” Feeling bold from the terrible punch and the loop de loop of emotions, James closed the gap between them, standing chest to chest. He had to crane his neck to look Robbie in the eye. He leaned forward just a few inches more…

“I think you had too much of the punch, Sergeant.”

“No, I don’t think either of us had enough of the punch, Robbie.”

“Hm.” He was about to say more when voices came down the hallway. “Bugger it. C’mon.”

Robbie then turned on his heal, and hand attached to James’ wrist, led him down the hallway. James stumbled for a moment from the shock of it before he gathered himself and eagerly followed him outside. The cold is a shock to his neck and face, but more so to Robbie who is wearing only the horrible Christmas jumper for warmth.

Standing by the car door, in the parking lot, they watched some other officers head off, pausing only to light their cigarettes.

“What I’m trying to say,” Robbie began with a deep sigh and a little shiver.

“Your freezing!” James snapped. Once again he closed the distance between them, this time opening up his coat as he did so. The coat wasn’t quite big enough to fit them both, so James pulled Robbie in as close as possible, pulling the coat as wide possible, while his arms did the rest. They had a moment of silence, just their breaths coming out in wisps in the cold night air.

Robbie opened his mouth as if to say something, but stopped. He slid in, ever so slightly closer.

“Hm,” James said, feeling the distinct satisfaction of holding Robbie Lewis tight against him. Bending his head, he said, softly into the other man’s ear, “You like this.”

It’s dare.

Robbie doesn’t disappoint.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! the inspiration came from a tumblr holiday prompt list :)


End file.
